One of the last surviving Dunkirk evacuation veterans has celebrated his 100th birthday.
Gordon Sugg escaped occupied France after being carried by pals through the surf to the HMS Winchelsea after he was injured by a Nazi bomb.
The private had landed as a 20-year-old months earlier with 9th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters.
After suffering mounting casualties, Pte Sugg and his pals were sent to the beach for evacuation at 4am on June 2 1940.
But as they awaited rescue, the Luftwaffe’s Stuka dive bombers launched an attack.
“I was wounded by a piece of shrapnel in the left leg,” he said, “just above the ankle, about 70 yards from the boat and two local lads – their names were Alf Taylor and Lee Hunt – picked me up and carried me to it.
"Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here now, I was one of the lucky ones.
“I was very fortunate indeed because it was only the walking wounded who made it to the boat.
"If I had been left behind I would have spent six years as a prisoner-of-war... or I would have been shot!
“But I will be forever grateful to Alf and Lee for carrying me, and to the crew of that boat.
"It was called HMS Winchelsea and it made several trips from Dover to Dunkirk and brought back more than 3,000 troops. It was a fantastic effort considering it was bombed, heavily bombed.”
Alf was joined by daughter-in-law Jennifer and granddaughter Nicola Pipes to celebrate his birthday at the Nottinghamshire care home where he lives.
They said: “What a life he has had. We are immensely proud of him.”
Among the dozens of cards he received was one from The Mercian Regiment, which now incorporates the Sherwood Foresters, with a message from Colonel of the Regiment General Ian Cave.
He wrote: “The courage and spirit you showed during your time with the 9 th Battalion, The Sherwood Foresters, is the very essence of what drives our soldiers today.”
